


Peony

by Crescense



Category: Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-08
Updated: 2019-11-08
Packaged: 2021-01-25 09:27:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21354004
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Crescense/pseuds/Crescense
Summary: Katrina and Ichabod draw by the hearth.
Relationships: Ichabod Crane/Katrina Van Tassel
Comments: 3
Kudos: 20





	Peony

**Author's Note:**

> Written in honor of Sleepy Hollow's 20th anniversary.

Circles she drew in the mouth of the stove, signs and symbols of good fortune and health. Happiness. Questions.

Alone she rested. Alone she became lost as he worked in a corner of the apartment. She could feel the warmth of the fire on her face. She imagined it hardening her skin and thought of herself as clay waiting to be cracked. She thought of herself as the wood and its fire. The immensity of the forest. She thought of the open sky and its moon. 

Ichabod came to sit beside Katrina on the floor, watching as she continued to draw. He was without shoes, his manner unkempt. And it was odd for her to see him in so different a light. She was contented by it, captivated.

They'd been married for two days, and she felt as though she did not yet know him well enough to be comfortably idle. To be alone with him in her sleeping clothes in a room she now called her own. Though, at the same time, he now knew her like no other. He shared her bed. He shared her heart. The room was his as well. 

Ichabod rested on his knees, dressed all in black save for his shirt sleeves, his dark eyes thoughtful. Katrina offered him the twig from her hand, and he, to her joy, accepted. With slight hesitence, he began to draw, making symbols Katrina recognized. She said nothing for fear he might stop.

He completed one design only to begin another without pausing. When he did stop, it was as though he were unaware of his actions or the images he'd created. He studied them before turning to his wife, hopeful, questioning. Katrina knew the symbols meaning. And, understanding that he did not know what he'd the same as written for her, she was overcome. His love and loyalty for her were not to be questioned.  
  
It could not be denied that Lady Crane's blood flowed through Ichabod's veins. There was something of a witch in him as well. A gift passed on without his knowledge. Perhaps now with his acceptance of matters once ruled false or superstitious, he might also accept what she could teach him.

He returned the twig to her open palm, and she looked long into his eyes, sweet and distant, saying things incapable of articulation. They were haunting, like paths seen though not taken.

She embraced him, her hands moving to his hair. "I will teach you their meaning."


End file.
